{"id":7833,"date":"2016-04-14T21:07:18","date_gmt":"2016-04-14T21:07:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/?p=7833"},"modified":"2016-04-16T02:42:41","modified_gmt":"2016-04-16T02:42:41","slug":"five-more-irish-names-for-boys-sean-seamas-seosamh-liam-micheal-pt-3-liam-micheal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/irish\/five-more-irish-names-for-boys-sean-seamas-seosamh-liam-micheal-pt-3-liam-micheal\/","title":{"rendered":"Five More Irish Names for Boys \u2013 Se\u00e1n, S\u00e9amas, Seosamh, Liam, M\u00edche\u00e1l, Pt. 3: Liam, M\u00edche\u00e1l"},"content":{"rendered":"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn)<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Liam<\/a>Continuing our coverage of Irish personal names, this blogpost will look at “Liam” <\/strong>and “M\u00edche\u00e1l.”\u00a0 Bh\u00ed na hainmneacha “Se\u00e1n” agus “S\u00e9amas” agus “Seosamh” sna blagmh\u00edreanna roimhe seo.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The good news for the name “Liam<\/strong>” is that there are no spelling changes with this word (i.e. no inserted “h’s” or “i’s”).\u00a0 So the forms are, quite straightforwardly:<\/p>\n

Liam<\/strong> [Ly<\/sup>EE-um], equivalent to “William,” also used when the name or nickname (leasainm<\/strong>) is “Bill” or “Will.”<\/p>\n

direct address form \/ vocative case: “A Liam!<\/strong>” [uh Ly<\/sup>EE-um].\u00a0 “Luigh ar an leaba, a Liam!<\/strong>” (giving a nice workout of the broad “l” and the slender “l”).\u00a0 There’s no spelling change to the name “Liam<\/strong>,” but there are some speakers who pronounce a lenited slender “l,” even though they don’t write it (no one writes it in Irish).\u00a0 It’s basically extra slender and it’s not readily transcribable in my rough pronunciation guide.\u00a0 This phenomenon has been described as largely among “older speakers” since I first read of it in the 1980s, so you may not hear the slight difference in everyday speech.<\/p>\n

Hmm, I’m tempted to add “liom<\/strong>” to my example above.\u00a0 “Luigh ar an leaba liom, a Liam!<\/strong>”\u00a0 Gives it a slightly different slant, doesn’t it?<\/p>\n

Of course, we could nip any implications in the bud and vary it further, “Luigh ar an leaba liom agus l\u00e9igh leabhar liom, a Liam!<\/strong>” (Lie on the bed with me and read a book with me, Liam!).<\/p>\n

possessive form \/ genitive case: Liam<\/strong> [no change in spelling].\u00a0 Sampla\u00ed: “leaba Liam,” “leabhar Liam,”<\/strong> and for a little more broad\/slender workout, “luch\u00f3g Liam<\/strong>” and “long Liam<\/strong>.”<\/p>\n

And now for a name which not only goes through changes for the direct address and possessive forms, but also has at least one widely-used variation and one other variation that is, i mo thaith\u00ed f\u00e9in<\/strong>, not particularly common.<\/p>\n

M\u00edche\u00e1l<\/strong> [MEE-hy<\/sup>awl], Michael.<\/p>\n

direct address form \/ vocative case: “A Mh\u00edch\u00edl!<\/strong>” [uh VEE-hy<\/sup>eel].\u00a0 “Dia dhuit, a Mh\u00edch\u00edl!<\/strong>”\u00a0 Notice that the “-e\u00e1-” vowel cluster has completely disappeared and is replaced by a long “i” (\u00cd).<\/p>\n

variation: “A Mh\u00edche\u00e1il!<\/strong>” [uh VEE-hy<\/sup>aw-il].\u00a0 Still slenderizing the final “n” but keeping the “e\u00e1” vowels.<\/p>\n

possessive form \/ genitive case: Mh\u00edch\u00edl<\/strong> [VEE-hy<\/sup>eel].\u00a0 Sampla: veidhl\u00edn Mh\u00edch\u00edl.<\/strong><\/p>\n

variation: Mh\u00edche\u00e1il<\/strong> [VEE-hy<\/sup>aw-il].\u00a0 Sampla: v\u00edosa Mh\u00edche\u00e1il<\/strong>.\u00a0 Or just to get fancy: vis-\u00e0-vis v\u00edosa Mh\u00edche\u00e1il<\/strong>.\u00a0 And yes, Irish, just like English, and no doubt many other languages, incorporates phrases from other languages, especially French and Latin.<\/p>\n

And there’s actually yet another variation but I can’t say I’ve seen it written very much:<\/p>\n

Maidhceal<\/strong><\/p>\n

“A Mhaidhceal!<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

Mhaidhcil<\/strong>: a possessive form, doesn’t show up real often, i mo thaith\u00ed f\u00e9in<\/strong>, but there are some references, like the name “M\u00e1irt\u00edn Mhaidhcil \u00d3 Cadhain<\/strong>” (http:\/\/aransongs.blogspot.com\/2014_06_01_archive.html) or C\u00f3il\u00edn Mhaidhcil \u00dana<\/strong>, which was the community name of the late C\u00f3il\u00edn \u00d3 Domhnail<\/strong> [sic per anghaeltacht.net], of T\u00edr an Fhia<\/strong>, who had been “fear an phoist<\/strong>” for 40 years prior to his death in 2005 (http:\/\/anghaeltacht.net\/ce\/cartlann\/0130.html).<\/p>\n

I get a slight indication from online examples that the name is sometimes just “Maidhcil<\/strong>” throughout (not with the “-e\u00e1-” form), and in that case the only changes would be for the lenition (“A Mhaidhcil!<\/strong>” and “Mhaidhcil<\/strong>“).<\/p>\n

If anyone else has some more examples, or knows more about the usage of “Maidhceal \/ Mhaidhcil<\/strong>,” please do write in and let us know.<\/p>\n

And then there’s the nickname:<\/p>\n

Maidhc<\/strong> (sounds like “Mike”)<\/p>\n

“A Mhaidhc!<\/strong>” (the “mh” is a “w” sound, the rest of the word is the same as above)<\/p>\n

madra Mhaidhc<\/strong> (pronunciation as noted directly above) or as in the name of the late author Johnny Ch\u00f3il Mhaidhc \u00d3 Coisdealbha<\/strong> (1929-2006)<\/p>\n

Bhuel<\/strong> … and btw, I use the word “bhuel,” like, a lot, you know, ‘cuz at least it sounds a little more “bhuelifluous” than loading up the text with “likes” and “you knows,” in my attempt to keep the blog sounding a bit “chatty” and not overly grammar-driven. \u00a0And you’ve been pronouncing that “bhuel<\/strong>” \u00a0like the English word “well,” haven’t you?\u00a0 The “bh” is a “w” sound — remember, the letter “w” itself is very very rarely used in Irish, as we recently discussed and as we saw in today’s blogpost, where the “mh” has a “w” sound.\u00a0 And the “ue” is almost unique in Irish, and not pronounced like English “gruel” or “fuel.” \u00a0The “u” keeps the “bh” broad and the vowel sound is essentially the short “e,” as in “well” or “bell” or the Irish “eile<\/strong>.” So, bhuel, \u00e1, sin \u00e9 don bhlagmh\u00edr seo.\u00a0 C\u00e9ard a dh\u00e9anfaidh m\u00e9 ina dhiaidh seo?\u00a0 N\u00edos m\u00f3 ainmneacha?\u00a0 \u00c1bhar eile ar fad?\u00a0 Molta\u00ed?\u00a0 P\u00e9 sc\u00e9al \u00e9 — SGF — R\u00f3isl\u00edn<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\"\"

(le R\u00f3isl\u00edn) Continuing our coverage of Irish personal names, this blogpost will look at “Liam” and “M\u00edche\u00e1l.”\u00a0 Bh\u00ed na hainmneacha “Se\u00e1n” agus “S\u00e9amas” agus “Seosamh” sna blagmh\u00edreanna roimhe seo. The good news for the name “Liam” is that there are no spelling changes with this word (i.e. no inserted “h’s” or “i’s”).\u00a0 So the forms…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":7835,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3898],"tags":[172902,1083,5874,5883,450049,449597,450239,449798,450943,451286,450625,450790,3351,298454,2503,448402,289856,3895],"class_list":["post-7833","post","type-post","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-irish-language","tag-direct-address","tag-genitive","tag-lenited","tag-liam","tag-maidhc","tag-maidhceal","tag-mhaidhc","tag-mhaidhcil","tag-mhicheail","tag-mhichil","tag-micheal","tag-michil","tag-possessive","tag-seamas","tag-sean","tag-seosamh","tag-slender","tag-vocative"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t